Tumbling to the top: Search for athletic outlet leads local gymnast to international success, spot on national team

Published 8:00 am Thursday, July 11, 2024

Northwest Georgia native Luke Todd said he first found the sport of tumbling in an attempt to find an outlet to battle symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

“I needed to find something to get my mind off of that and do something active,” Todd said. “We found the gym I go to now, Culprit Athletics, and they put me in a parkour class.”

Four years later, the search for an outlet that led him to the Dalton-based gym has paid off in the form of national acclaim and opportunities for international travel for the Dalton-born Calhoun resident.

Parkour led him to try out trampoline and tumbling at the gym, which is on Cleveland Highway in Dalton. Todd developed his skills under coach Austin Culp at the gym, and, for the second year in a row, Todd has been named to the USA Gymnastics Junior National Tumbling Team.

“He trains five days a week, 25 hours a week during competition season,” said David Todd, the father of Luke, who turned 15 in June.

The junior national team is one step below the senior team. Luke Todd was pulled up a year early for the junior team, which usually houses athletes aged 15 and 16, from the youth level last year.

Tumbling is a discipline of gymnastics. Artistic gymnastics is perhaps the most widely-known discipline, being the form that U.S. Olympic stars like Simone Biles compete in during the Olympics every four years.

Tumbling involves a participant performing a series of acrobatic skills down a long section of spring-softened floor. Participants develop an intricate routine of jumps, twists and flips in hopes of impressing judges.

“I would take it in parts,” Todd said of developing his routine. “I would work certain parts of it, maybe split it in half and work half of it first. You put it all together when competition time comes.”

It’s Todd’s performance in competitions that has earned him a spot on the junior national team for a second year running.

There are three main domestic competitions that junior tumblers compete in. The tumblers‚ and gymnasts from the other disciplines, are then ranked from the results of those competitions, and the top competitors are then named to the USA teams.

Todd and the other members of the 14-person team are then part of a pool of participants that attend international competitions representing the United States.

Since the Summer Olympics are held this year, there won’t be as many competitions held for the junior teams, David Todd said.

Luke Todd has been to several competitions during his past involvement with the sport. Todd won a national championship last year at the youth level and placed fourth in the world at the World Age Group Competition in Birmingham, England, in November.

“There is a lot that’s similar, but it’s also very different,” Todd said about traveling to England for the competition. “Food-wise and everything it was different. It was a little shocking and different that I’m used to, but it was a great experience.”

Todd hopes to compete at the world games for the senior team one day and keep making international memories.

“I’ve learned lots of life lessons and met a lot of people from different countries,” Todd said. “It’s been very good to experience all these things from outside of our country.”